cαппıвαʟ
by Eternity's Ghost
Summary: Shadow is a young she-cat living with a band of rouges outside clan territory. One day, she hits her head, and she begins to have dreams of drowning that feel strangely familiar. Not only that, but she starts to discover the darker side to the cats she calls family.
1. Prologue Part I

**Okay, so here's the deal. I know that I said I wouldn't start any new stories until I finished the five I have going now. I'm sorry, but I lied. As of late, I haven't been getting much motivation to write (you can blame YouTube for that), but when I do it's for original stories. Hence, I haven't been writing that much fanfiction. Also, my writing style has evolved drastically (at least in my opinion) and the fanfics seem... old. ****The style isn't very detailed, they're riddled with typos, it's feels clumsy and hasty, and the characters aren't very well-developed.** So, until I get around to redoing them, my multi-chapter fanfics are all on hiatus. For now, I'm going to focus on three stories: this one, _A Ninetail's Paradise_ (Wolf's Rain), and _Prin's 100 One-shot Challenge_ (Warriors). _Carry On_ will be more of a side thing, but I'll still be updating occasionally. Comprende?

**Long annoying rant OVER! :D So, welcome to _Cannibal_! I'll be updating this every Monday (I swear!). I'm thinking about splitting this into two parts, but we'll see when we get there I suppose.**

**Here's the Prologue!**

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Prologue: _The River_

The dark brown tabby's green eyes half opened lazily as her mate groomed her ears, her mind still a bit misty with sleep. Their tails twined together and she nuzzled close his chest, listening to the deep rumble of his amused purr. "Come now, love," he said warmly. "This is hardly the time to be lazy. You've got a patrol to lead, remember?" She smiled and sighed lovingly.

"That's just like you, Nightfur," she replied. "Responsibility first, relaxation second. Can't the patrol wait just a little while longer? I'm sure they'll survive without me." Nightfur's chuckle was cut off by someone clearing their throat, and the pair looked up at a large grey tabby. His green eyes held patience and authority.

"Hawkfeather," he said sternly, "I don't have any problems with you and your mate spending time together, but it will have to wait. Your patrol has been patiently waiting for a while now, and those rabbits won't catch themselves. You can relax later." He left no room for objection.

"Yes, father," Hawkfeather said with a small sigh. She stood, stretched, and gave her mate a lick on the cheek before padding over to where three cats were sitting. She heard her father assign Nightfur to a border patrol as she left. One of the waiting cats, her fur pale yellow, stood as she approached.

"Good morning, Hawkfeather," she said pleasantly.

"Morning Palepaw," the tabby replied with a nod.

"Finally decided to wake up, have we?" a brown and white tom asked, winking playfully at her. Hawkfeather just rolled her eyes at him. A light brown tabby chuckled quietly.

"Let's just get on with the patrol," she said, leading the way out of the dip in the hills. When she reached the peak of the ridge, a playful breeze and the scent of heather greeted her. She smiled and breathed in the invigorating greenleaf air. The sky overhead was bright blue, with not a cloud in sight. The sun was high, but not quite at its crest, shedding its warmth over the land and kepping the cats' fur pleasantly tepid. All around Hawkfeather the landscape was spread out like an unfurled leaf. To her left was the forest, to her right was the Twolegplace, and directly in front of her was the lake.

She turned toward the rest of the patrol. "Rabbitstripe, you and Swiftbreeze head toward the Twolegplace, and Palepaw and I will head for the ThunderClan border. We'll loop back around and meet up by the beach." The tabby tom nodded and bounded away, closely followed by the brown and white tom. Hawkfeather and Palepaw proceeded in the opposite direction, toward the forest.

For a while, the two she-cats travelled in comfortable silence, enjoying the beautiful greenleaf day. Colourful butterflies flitted around the moorland flowers and birds glided on the wind. "Hey Hawkfeather," Palepaw said thoughtfully, breaking the quiet, "when do you think my warrior ceremony will be?"

"Well, you'll be twelve moons old soon, so it's not far off," Hawkfeather replied.

The yellow she-cat opened her mouth to say something more, but a rustle in the grass distracted her. She scented the air briefly and tensed as a hare loped out of a clump of heather. She bolted toward the creature, the frightened hare dashing away ahead of her, and the hunter and prey disappeared over a small hill. Hawkfeather padded in the apprentice's wake and sat down next to the heather patch the hare had first appeared from. For a short while, she watched Palepaw pursue her prey, until she heard a tiny squeal from the heather. Startled, she pushed away some of the purple moorland flowers and gasped.

Within the patch was a nest full of tiny hare babies, nine in total. They wriggled around and climbed over each other, crying out for their mother. Pitying the helpless, motherless young, the WindClan warrior quickly snapped each of their necks. She turned away from the heather just as Palepaw padded up, her kill dangling from her jaws and her eyes shining. She dropped it at Hawkfeather's paws.

"Phew!" she exclaimed, breathless from the chase. "This one was really fast! I was lucky that it tripped when it did, otherwise I wouldn't have caught it!" She prodded the felled hare with a forepaw. "It's really plump, too; I bet it'll feed all the queens and their kits, maybe even the elders." She looked up at Hawkfeather expectantly.

"Great catch, my apprentice!" she said, forcing a smile. "You're right, this will leave the queens feeling plump." Palepaw perked up even more, almost glowing with the praise, and dragged the hare into her former home. She didn't notice the nest full of dead babies. The mentor and apprentice continued toward the forest, along the way catching another, scrawnier rabbit and a crow, which was captured with a flying leap by Hawkfeather. Finally, they reached the river that divided the forest from the moors. The two WindClan cats stopped to drink, but a recent storm had left the soil loose. Hawkfeather let out a yowl as the ground slid under her paws, and she was plunged into the water.

She heard Palepaw's scared shout before the water closed over her head. She desperately flailed her paws in an attempt to resurface, water filling her mouth and ears and stinging her eyes. Light filtered through the water and bubbles drifted from her churning paws. She broke the surface with a gasp, coughing up river water while blinking it out of her eyes. She saw Palepaw standing on the bank, her eyes wide and her fur fluffed out. "Come on Hawkfeather!" she shouted. "You're almost to the shore, it's just a little bit farther! You can do it!" The soaked brown tabby paddled toward the pale form of her apprentice, but a vicious undercurrent dragged her back down.

She paddled fruitlessly, not even knowing which way she was going, as sharp stones grazed her pelt and the quickly-flowing river tugged at her fur. The water was making her vision blur and her nose sting, her ears filled with silence. The lack of oxygen was draining her strength, making it more and more difficult to move her limbs. Exhausted, Hawkfeather let herself go limp, watching bubbles float to the surface and the riverbed pass by. Darkness crowded the edges of her vision, and she would have given in to it if not for another cat plunging into the river, his bright white pelt making him easy to spot in the dark water.

She yelped in surprise when he latched his teeth around her scruff, her remaining air escaping her lungs. He swam toward the surface, dragging a limp Hawkfeather along with him. She gulped in lungfuls of fresh oxygen as air washed over her head. She paddled with her saviour, unable to scent any Clan on his waterlogged fur. They were almost at the bank when a branch carried by the current crashed into them, separating his teeth from her scruff. As she sank for the third time, she yowled the first name that came to mind: "Nightfur!"

She thrashed frantically below the surface as the branch got tangled in her fur, dragging her downstream and pinning her below the water. Her attempts drained her strength, testing what little air she had, and she grew tired quickly. Still, she desperately tried to propel herself toward the surface, the faces of her loved ones flashing through her mind. As a way to calm down and focus, she named each cat as they appeared.

_Nightfur._ Her loyal lover since their apprenticeship.

She kicked at the branch, winching as it jerked her fur.

_Stonestar._ Her serious, kind-hearted father who always had time to play.

Finally, the branch came free, swirling away above her.

_Cherryflower._ Her gentle mother who always loved her family through it all.

She began to swim toward the surface, but something was tugging on her tail.

_Palepaw._ Her energetic apprentice who eagerly awaited training each day.

She turned to see the transparent form of a cat holding her tail.

_Hareleap._ Her goofy brother who never left her side, even when he joined ShadowClan.

Hawkfeather's mouth opened in shock, but she quickly snapped it shut again.

_Sunleaf._ Her best friend since kithood, who always had her back.

The transparent cat said nothing, just held her tail as they were pulled along.

_Ravenwing._ Another nursery friend who had a crush on Nightfur, but let him go.

The tabby warrior struggled to escape the stranger's grasp, but her efforts were fruitless.

_Greystorm._ The elder, her mother's father, who had the best advice to give.

Any scrap of hope left her as the river deposited her into the lake. The other cat vanished.

_Duskkit_. The shy, yet energetic young she-kit whom Hawkfeather had saved from a fox.

She flinched as a silver fish darted past her and continued her struggles to resurface, even though she was sinking like a rock. Her air was rapidly depleting, causing her mind to cloud. The faces stopped appearing. Her limbs once more became heavy, her vision blurry. All the water around her looked the same, muddling her sense of direction.

Hawkfeather held on to the faces as best she could as the darkness consumed her.

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**Yay! The prologue's done! So, what do you think? Is it unusual that the main character is killed off right away? How is my new style compared to my old one? Did you read the short bit of Nightfur's dialogue in a British accent? Were there any typos I missed? Tell me, please! ;) Also, I know this is a day late, but from now on updates will be on Mondays.**


	2. Prologue Part II

**Man, you have no idea how happy I am to get this posted! 8D I wrote this the night after I published this story, so I've been dying to get this up for a week now. Anyway, enjoy!**

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Part II: _Second Chance_

The brown tabby stood at the edge of grey forest and stared at the starry pathway that had appeared in front of her. The trail led straight across the endless stretch of dark grey grass, disappearing over the horizon. The tabby tentatively placed a paw on the path, and another, and another, until she was trotting along it, her colour draining with each step. Soon, her pelt was colourless and see-through, her glowing pale green eyes the only colour left on her body. She felt nothing, no hunger or thirst or fatigue, just curiosity. Her tail-tip flicked back and forth and her ears were pricked forward. Mist pooled in her paw prints and trailed behind her.

The she-cat walked and walked for what seemed like minutes but felt like ages. She didn't know how long she had been following the starry path, nor did she care, but she had a feeling there was something waiting for her at the end.

Eventually, her surroundings grew darker and the stars fewer and further in between. The she-cat picked up the pace, eager to reach the end of the dimming path she followed. Her pawsteps still filled with mist, but the white vapour was beginning to vanish. Before long, she was walking through inky blackness, the glow coming from within her now-transparent body revealing everlasting nothing, but she felt no fear. Only curiosity and excitement.

She stopped when a creature appeared in front of her. The newcomer's gender was indistinguishable, and its form flitted from a cat, to a tiger, to a deer, to an eagle, to a badger, and more. The only constants were its size and fur colour; its right half was pitch black while its left was bright white, split down the centre perfectly, and it somehow remained roughly the size of a large dog. Its eyes switched between blood red and ice blue, back and forth and back again. It was surrounded by a halo of bright, golden-white light.

"Greetings, mortal," it said. "I have been awaiting your arrival." Its voice was strange, like the deep, throaty growl of a wolf, the whisper of wind through the grass, and the gentle voice of a mother soothing her kits all at once. The transparent she-cat trembled at the ethereal power that radiated from the creature. Feeling very small and powerless, she tucked her tail between her legs and dipped her head low. The celestial being laughed at her show of submission, the booming sound making her cower in fear and awe.

"Do not fear me, mortal," it said. "I am not here to harm you in any way. If that was my intention, I would have done so already. I am simply here to give you a second chance."

The she-cat slowly rose to her paws and raised her head, though her eyes remained lowered and her tail tucked. She steadied the quaver in her voice before speaking. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice at a whisper.

"I am Eternity," the creature replied. "I am the keeper of time and a guardian of the Golden Gates to Paradise. I am the past, present, and future. I control the fates of every living thing, from the moment of their birth to their final breath. I know everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen. I was there when this world was first conceived, and I will be there when it ceases to exist."

"Wow," the cat breathed, her green eyes wide. "So you're a god?"

Eternity laughed at her question, sending a tremor through her legs. "That is one of the many things I am called," it said, "but even beings such as myself answer to a higher spirit, with more power and might than I." The transparent she-cat blinked, absorbing this new information. After a moment, she spoke again.

"What would a being as powerful as yourself want with me?" she asked.

"Like I said before, I am here to give you a second chance," it answered simply.

"I know," she said, her voice beginning to waver again, "but why me? What did I do to deserve a second chance?" She thought she saw the corners of Eternity's mouth turn up in a smile, but with the creature's ever-changing appearance she questioned ever actually seeing it.

"Every creature deserves a second chance," the being explained. "You spent your entire life striving to serve and protect those near to your heart, even if they wronged you, until the moment of your death. You never tried to intentionally harm another living being, but when you did it was for the welfare of others. You were kind, fair, and understanding to all. Your soul is not stained by the blood of the innocent. You have earned your second chance. Had your heart been tainted by the wiles of evil, you would not be here."

The she-cat took a deep breath and raised her eyes. "Have there been any beings who denied their second chance?" she asked.

Eternity nodded grimly. "There was one cat," it said, "a male with icy eyes. He kept insisting that he was evil, but I saw no darkness within him. He only tried to do what was best for the cats that followed him, even fought a dog for them, although he was detached and bitter. His essence was as strong and bright as yours is, but he wouldn't listen to me." The she-cat twisted her head to stare the light glowing from within her, her eyes filling with wonder.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"His soul was cast away to a place filled with nothing, forever cursed to wander through the darkness," the ethereal being replied.

"Is that what will happen to me if I refuse?" the she-cat asked, eyes wide. Eternity nodded again, and the she-cat thought she saw the edges of its mouth curl in a smile once more, but again she questioned it.

"Yes," it replied, "but I know you will not." The entity stepped forward, its flickering eyes intensifying, and drew itself up to its full hight, which was about twice the size of a fully grown male lion. The halo surrounding it glowed even brighter, and with it the cat's essence. When Eternity spoke again, it sounded like thousands of voices speaking though one mouth.

"Do you, mortal born of the waters of Paradise, swear to release all remnants of the life you left behind from your soul, to make way for the new?"

The she-cat trembled at the being's raw power, her tail locked between her hind legs and her bright green eyes wide with terror. "I-I swear," she promised earnestly, her voice shaking.

"Do you swear to serve and protect the ones who become dear to you in your new lifetime, even if it means sacrificing yourself so that they may live on, with loyalty and honesty and courage?"

"I swear," she repeated, her fear growing.

"And do you swear that, if you raise tooth or claw against another living being, it may not be for greed, envy, or anger, but for the wellbeing of those you serve?"

"I swear."

"Then I, Eternity, keeper of time and fate and a guardian of the gates of Paradise, use the power that was bestowed upon me at the birth of this world to strip you of your past and grant you a new future, to live anew among the commotion and splendour of the world."

The celestial creature released an ear-splitting bellow, the sheer volume and power of it making the she-cat's entire body shake. The ground began to roll with tremors. She felt her strength begin to drain though her paws, and she fought to remain standing. Her ears throbbed and her fur fluffed out, but she didn't dare close her eyes. Memories flashed by in front of her, each vibrant and clear but lasting only a few moments.

_A cream tabby curled around her two kits._

_A grey queen with lighter legs groaning as her first kit slid onto the moss._

_A young brown tabby practically glowing as her Clan called her new name: Hawkpaw._

_Hawkpaw purring as a black tom told her he loved her._

_Hawkpaw dashing ahead of her leader to get to her first Gathering._

_Hawkpaw clawing fiercely at a ginger tabby's flanks._

_Hawkpaw cheering her friends' apprentice names: Ravenpaw and Sunpaw._

_Hawkpaw receiving her warrior name, Hawkfeather._

_Hawkfeather attending her first Gathering as a warrior._

_Hawkfeather catching a fat hare in mid-winter during a famine._

_Hawkfeather battling fiercely with a fox to protect a tiny she-kit._

_Hawkfeather cheering for her friends as they became Ravenwing and Sunleaf._

_Hawkfeather touching noses with a pale yellow she-cat._

_Hawkfeather sinking toward the bottom of a lake._

The transparent she-cat let out a yowl as bright white light blinded her.

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**Phew! That was (hopefully) intense! This chapter may look short, but it's 1,563 words give or take! I'm proud of myself, since before it was only about 1,430. :3 Please review, and thanks for reading! :)**


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